Owners Urged To Resolve Unpaid Debts
Queens Borough President Helen Marshall urged homeowners to act immediately to prevent the sale of a lien on their property due to unpaid taxes, water or repair charges.
“The deadline for resolving these debts is May 17, so I encourage homeowners to act now,” said Marshall.
Marshall’s office has been reaching out to homeowners to remind them of the encroaching deadline. She placed calls to a number of homeowners who received the Department of Finance’s (DOF) 90-day Notice of Lien Sale.
The borough president said quick action is necessary to keep owners off a lien sale list that the city may sell to a trust that hires a private collector who becomes the new lienholder and could levy additional charges against homeowners. The private lienholder could also begin foreclosure proceedings six months after the lien sale.
Individuals can pay their outstanding debt, enter into a payment agreement with the city Department of Finance and/or the Department of Environmental Protection or apply to receive an exemption that excludes the property owner from the sale. Exemptions for one-to-three-family homes and residential condos could include senior citizen homeowners, the disabled and veterans.
More information is available by going to www.nyc.gov/liensale or calling 311.
Among those who may be subject to the lien sale are property owners who owe at least $1,000 for one-year or more on their property taxes, water and sewage charges or Emergency Repair Program and/or Alternate Repair Program. Also eligible are owners of one, two or three-family homes, residential, cooperative of condominium apartments, small stores or offices with one or two apartments above, and vacant land zoned for residential use who owe the city at least $1,000 in property taxes for three years or longer.
